This was a study for a much larger painting which is now in Grenada. I began it in 1997 when I was working out the bigger composition, but it then got left unfinished until now when I decided to complete it and as travel is not possible at the moment, take a trip in my mind to that magical island. Also Wandsworth Art are celebrating their local artists this summer and chose this image to make a banner of for the high street.

For me drawing and painting open a doorway into stillness, allowing me to be in the present moment.   I start by engaging, and in some small way becoming a part of what I am looking at, and feeling a profound gratitude for it.  It might be a single flower or an insect, but by focusing on it there is a shift in my head and I begin to see how everything is connected.  Once I am in that quiet place creating, I am able to process emotions and the studies I make become a springboard into larger more symbolic work. 

My work is about celebrating and sharing these moments. Paying homage to nature and the importance of setting aside our differences to work together to protect  it. 

I also enjoy taking on commissions for people and helping them realise what they wish to capture whether it is a much loved landscape, family house, animal or paintings celebrating special days.

I live in London and work in several mediums depending on whether I am at home or outside painting in a sketchbook or on small boards.  I often begin with crayons and then add watercolour or gouache. When I am in the studio I like to be alone, but when I am out and about looking, and collecting ideas, I do not mind the interruptions as they are all part of the story and experience of the work I am making.

I use acrylic but keep coming back to oil as I prefer the colours to remain open for longer. Here is another type of palette I use at home which is grease proof paper stuck down on an old table.

House-paint too is useful, when for instance I was turning a large piece of hardboard into an old stone wall for the backdrop of the crib in the church at Christmas.  

I was influenced from an early age by my father who discovered painting on a rainy family holiday in Brittany when my enterprising Italian mother went to the local village and bought everyone sketchbooks and paints. Throughout his life I shared this love of painting with him and we often went out for the day with our paints and easels.

My husband Richard and I came together through our love of art and I learnt from him while helping in the many exhibitions he curated.
This I now share with my children especially my daughter Susannah who is a fellow painter.  

I graduated from the Byam Shaw School for Drawing and Painting in 1973, under the guidance of John Flavin and inspiring tutors like Diana and Bernard Dunston. Part of the course was a certificate in teaching at Whitelands College and my first job was at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Primary School in Holloway.

Although I was teaching all the subjects to a very large class of 6 year olds, encouraging the children to express themselves visually was a great help in communicating and together we transformed the rather old fashioned classroom into a happy and vibrant place.  Here, my love of illustration grew which developed into the clocks, dinner mats, cards and alphabet paintings.